Once Faye was safely sitting, she went back and quickly got the bicycle out of harm’s way. She wheeled it inside the back gate where she left it before going back to Faye’s side.
‘Come into the house. I need to make sure you’re all right.’ Blood was coming from one side of her forehead. Bonnie suspected it was only a surface wound but with head trauma you could never be too careful. ‘Faye, do you know who I am?’
‘Of course. You’re Bonnie.’
At first glance she didn’t appear to be concussed but of course concussion symptoms didn’t always occur immediately.
Bonnie pulled a tissue from her pocket. Luckily she had one. ‘Hold this against your head to stem the bleeding.’ She held Faye’s arm as she led her through the back gate.
Inside, Faye went to sit on the stool but Bonnie ushered her over to Howard’s chair – there was less danger of her falling out of that if she suddenly felt dizzy.
Bonnie looked beneath the tissue to check that the bleeding was indeed subsiding as she’d suspected it would, and then went to get her first-aid kit from the kitchen cupboard.
She’d been in the back garden getting in the washing when she’d moved closer to the stone wall at the side of the garden because she recognised Faye. She watched her cycle uphill but something was off because there was a man chasing after her on foot. Bonnie had dropped the basket of washing and dashed out of the gate, yelling whatever she could think of to get rid of the man, but unfortunately by the time Faye came into view she was on the ground.
She held a small bowl beneath the tap at the sink and filled it with water, which she took to the back room. She soaked a piece of cotton wool in the water then gently dabbed it against the wound on Faye’s forehead. ‘Can you tell me your name?’
‘I remembered yours so I definitely remember my own.’ She winced as Bonnie finished cleaning up the cut on her forehead for her. ‘I’m Faye.’
‘And where are you?’
‘Driftwick Bay.’
‘Who was Howard?’
Faye smiled. ‘He was one of the kindest men I’ve ever met… well, online-met.’
Bonnie’s emotions stirred but for once it didn’t make her want to run and hide. ‘You’re going to be fine. The bleeding has stopped; it’s only a surface wound.’ She noticed the tear in Faye’s hoodie. ‘How’s your elbow?’
Faye looked at her clothing and tutted. ‘I really like this hoodie.’
Bonnie helped her ease her hoodie off so that she could check her elbow.
‘Only a slight graze.’ Bonnie gave it a gentle clean. ‘You’re lucky you didn’t hit your head harder, you know. Where’s your helmet?’ She surprised even herself with her question. She’d been hiding from the world, only going out to get the essentials, and now she’d been outside, yelled at a man, and here she was delivering a lecture on cycling safety. ‘I apologise,’ she said. ‘I was a nurse once. I saw my fair share of injuries.’
‘It’s fine. And I do have a helmet. I dropped it when that guy was harassing me. I just wanted to get away.’
‘Dropped it where?’
‘By the bike rack near the road to the bakery.’
She couldn’t very well send Faye out to get the helmet but equally she didn’t want to walk down to get it. ‘Where’s your friend?’
‘Margot?’
‘Yes, Margot, that was it. Has she gone already?’
‘Back to her accommodation about half an hour ago,’ said Faye.
Bonnie had hoped she was still around so she could step in and take over. But she wasn’t. And this young woman needed her help.
She gestured for Faye to pass her the hoodie. ‘I can mend that quickly.’
‘Oh no, I couldn’t ask?—’
‘You’re not asking, I’m offering.’
‘I’ll go and get my helmet. Although…’
